


Siempre

by minniebot



Series: everything here in this city [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (or at least as best as i can fake magical realism), (taako's aunt is a curandera), (this is how you build AUs right), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, M/M, Magical Realism, Meet-Cute, because mexican catholic elves, fantasy races are real but also real life races, gratuitous Spanish, sibling dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 14:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11557401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minniebot/pseuds/minniebot
Summary: There are childhood memories that Taako loves. There are childhood memories that he... doesn't, so much.A scene as a child, a scene as an adult, and, in between, he's pretty sure he gets a date.





	Siempre

**Author's Note:**

> For [trainwreckgenerator](trainwreckgenerator.tumblr.com). Happy birthday!!!

“La virgen siempre está te mirando!” Taako hears half a second before he is smacked upside the head with a wooden spoon. Hastily, he rips his hand out of the blue depression glass dish on the side table, hand still full of strawberry candy and hard chocolate mints. He slips his tiny victory into his wide sleeve, already turning to prepare his brightest simper and sincerest apologies. Tía Lada didn’t like him in the kitchen, so he made do out here until she caught him. Lately it seemed like Tía Lada didn’t like him anywhere.

“I'm sorry, Tía,” he says, hands clasped in front of him. He looks up at her with big bug eyes, and thinks hard about the face he practiced in the mirror, one he's so sure he finally got right.

“The hell you are,” she grouses, flicking the spoon at him again. He barely flinches this time. “ Go find your sister, it's almost dinner. ¡Ándale!”

He’s a little upset that the face didn't work. He's more excited to get out of the house.

Taako isn't sure he's ever laced up his sneakers faster in his entire life, his tía’s awful little Shih Tzu mutt yapping at him the whole time, and he almost slams the front door on its obnoxious little nose. At the top of the driveway, Taako raps his knuckles twice on the hood of his tío’s white Corolla, hops twice, and charges full-tilt down into the cul-de-sac.

When he was just a little younger, he would trip over his own ankles and skin his palms on the asphalt where the road met the driveway. When he would sniffle Lup would grab his face and squish his cheeks with both hands, and when his tear ducts were too flat to push water through and he couldn't breathe through his nose she would let go and grab his hand and they would run together down to the riverbed. Now he hops over the seam of the gutter and feels like he’s levitating as he takes the downhill road towards the park.

He knows where Lup is. He always knows where she is, even on weeks like the last one when their abuelito could only take one of them and Taako had stayed in Tío Lano’s garage with Hector Álmaraz and his two hulking pit bulls. Even when he can't name the place, if he lets his feet wander for long enough they'll return him to her side in time. This time, though, as always when they stay with Tía Lada, he knows Lup is in the Umbrella.

The first time the Twins found it, the sky had been pouring rain and they'd taken shelter on the scrub-covered trail that led to the little clearing in the middle of the dry riverbed. The trees, dry and sad as they were, gave just enough protection to keep them mostly dry until the sky cleared up enough to give them time to run home, and ever since they made it there whenever they could.

There could be a couple of groups in the Umbrella at any given point in time -- loud and frantic children who have wandered too far from the park, the clutch of little druids who live right on the other side of the riverbed, gangs of teenagers looking for a quiet place for a smoke -- but it’s near sunset on a school day so Taako isn't shocked when Lup is the only one there. She’s hung her bright red buckled shoes next to the tire swing and shimmied halfway up one of the young, doubled-over oaks. Her shoes are dusty with river sand.

“It's not a good hiding place if I can find you this fast, doofus,” Taako says, scooting into the tire swing.

“Bunk,” Lup returns. There's a soft thud as she lands gracelessly on the ground. “Nobody else knows where to look for me. You're just a weirdo.”

“ _You're_ a weirdo,” he says lazily. He's lying backwards, swinging, holding himself in the tire by his knees, watching the sky on either side of the branch above as he tick-tocks around it. “Tía Lada sent me to come get you.”

Lup groans loudly. “We're _nine whole years old, Taako_ ,” she whines, and he can hear her scuffing her feet in the dirt towards him and her shoes. “ _Goddddd_ , we’re practically adults by now. Why can't they just get us an apartment instead of trading us every week after Mass?”

Taako sits up again, still swinging. He watches his twin sister jam her feet into her dusty shoes before he hops out of the tire and holds out his hand for her. “Because if they did that, then we’d never see Tía Tilla,” he says.

Lup hums, tapping her toes on the ground to make sure her shoes are on right. She takes his hand and they start to walk back to Tía Lada’s.

“Aw dip, Lulu,” Taako starts once they've trudged their way up the dry riverbank, “I almost forgot.” Shaking his sleeve a bit, he dislodges and palms a couple of the candies from earlier, reaching over to press them into Lup’s free hand.

“Oh, dip,” she murmurs. She shoves the candies into the pocket of her overalls, pulling out a chocolate mint and twirling the plastic open with her free hand and her molars. She scrapes it into her mouth and asks, “Koko, how’d you snag these?”

Taako blinks at her, grinning with all his teeth. It's not quite a wink, but the grin really sells it.

“La virgen siempre está te mirando,” he says, before pulling out a strawberry candy and popping it, wrapper and all, into his mouth.

 

* * *

 

Taako wakes up one morning and Lup isn't in their bedroom.

This isn't really surprising anymore, but it's still weird for him. It started in college, when they were even in separate dorm buildings, holed up with complete strangers the first year. After the Incident, the two of them had gotten an apartment together as Taako looked for work off-campus while Lup continued her classes, but even then she'd spent countless nights in her girlfriend's single instead of at home with her brother. And after they -- well, Taako isn't sure if they ever actually broke up -- but after they sort of separated and Lup came back from the Peace Corps she'd found out that her early-bird schedule was apparently permanent. Her early morning jogs and trips to the juice shop became less ironic and she started taking detours through the dog park. After she'd met Barry, she started spending even fewer nights in their apartment, which Taako admittedly only knows because of his late shifts at the club. But it works. He always knows where she is, and she always comes home.

Unfortunately, they had plans this particular Sunday. Plans that meant that Taako had to get up and go get his sister.

If there is one thing Taako prides himself on above all else, it's that he's never left the house in sweatpants or pajamas. Even if he's walking five feet down the hall to the garbage chute, Taako always looks a million smackers. This also means that Taako only leaves when it's ab-so-lu-tely worth his time. This is worth enough that he throws on his laziest outfit and is out the door in nine minutes.

It's 9:56 in the morning and they're meeting Tía Tilla sometime around 10:15, after Mass is over. Taako only has half an idea of where Lup is, so he lets his legs take over by themselves and uncharacteristically jogs to the end of the block so he doesn't miss the crosswalk light.

He hits the dog park four minutes later, fingers brushing the iron gate marking the entrance as he swings onto the main path. The hour turns, and the start of ten loud bongs pulls his eyes to the far side of the park lawn, across from which is La Iglesia de Santo Corelón. If he peers hard enough through the trees he can see the members only building next to the cathedral where his abuelito would take him and Lup and their mom when they were three or four, and he can just see the tops of the twin statues of la virgen and the saint on the cathedral itself. He loses himself a little bit in memories of him and Lup standing in front of the statues before Mass, mimicking their poses for seconds before someone could scold them. They would run to join their abuelito every Sunday and Tía Tilla when she could make it, and at the end of the service they would hold hands and stand at the back of the cathedral while the adults argued over who would have to take them home for the week.

Taako is moving entirely on autopilot, letting his feet take him to his sister. He wonders how many more kids had been tossed around from family to family in that cathedral ever since he and Lup had grown up -- kids like the two of them, kids like Angus. At least Ango has him and Lup, Magnus and Julia, Killian and Carey, Lucretia, even Avi or Barry on occasion. He’ll do everything he can to make sure that kid grows up alright. Or at least better than he did.

Taako is so lost in his own thoughts that he doesn't notice the frantic yipping of three furious puffs of dog fur or the strikingly handsome man holding their leashes until he crashes right into them, sending everyone involved toppling to the sidewalk.

Taako swears loudly. His legs have tangled wildly in his floor-length skirt and he's pretty sure it'll only be dumb luck if he hasn't snapped a heel. Worse yet, pinning him down are three extremely miffed Pomeranians, stretched to the ends of their leashes. One of them is putting its full shitty little dog weight in between two of his ribs.

“Hey, you wanna call off the K-9 unit, compadre?” Taako says, annoyed. “Kinda havin’ some trouble breathin’ over here.”

“What? Oh, hell,” comes a deep voice from the other side of his tangled skirt. There's a light tutting noise and a quiet whistle and all three dogs perk up and go trotting back to their owner. Taako sits up and finally gets a good look at the kind of guy who would own three monochrome dogs and then run headlong into the most beautiful thing _in_ this park at the moment.

The other man on the ground is a tiefling with dark red skin, very tall horns, and _very_ long dreadlocks. He's wearing a tailored vest and a plum tie and Taako realizes two things simultaneously: first, that this is an extremely attractive person, and second, that _he knows him_.

“You’re The Reaper,” he says. The man in front of him jerks sharply, eyes darting from Taako’s face to across the park to the spotted Pom, who has wandered back over to sniff at about where Taako's feet are. He looks around frantically for another couple of seconds before his eyes slowly drag back to Taako’s face. Taako preens a bit as this absolutely beautiful man peers at him over a pair of very tiny rimless glasses.

After a long pause, during which the black Pom inserts its snoot into Taako's hand and he begins scratching it idly, the man finally ventures, “You're one of the bartenders, aren't you? At the club.”

Taako smirks then, showing all of his prettiest teeth. “Bingo, gorgeous,” he says, winking and relishing in the way this man’s eyes flicker away from him and his brow furrows. Adorable.

“Yes, that's uh,” the man mutters, sitting up straight but still looking to the side. Suddenly, he snaps back to meet Taako’s gaze and declares, “That's right! You’re Taako!” The elf is sure that he turns a little red at that, but the other man doesn't seem to notice as he goes on. “My mistake, I'm so used to being able to place people immediately that I exhausted all of the obscure options before I got to the obvious ones. You seem a bit rushed; are you in a hurry?”

A question. Taako can work with a question. “A bit, sugar,” he says flippantly, sitting up straight and starting to untangle his heels from his skirt, “But I always have time for a handsome man, especially when he's surrounded by dogs”. He reaches over again to skritch the black dog under the chin, and she promptly shuffles over to lay her front paws on his thigh. “What's this little sweetheart’s name?” Taako asks.

“Oh, she's uh,” the man starts. He clearly loves his filler words. Taako can tell he thinks carefully about everything he says before it leaves his mouth. “Her name is Wilhelmina,” he finishes, holding his hand out at her. The white Pom runs over instead and licks his fingers.

Taako snorts loudly the second that name leaves the man's mouth. “Bullshit,” he says, looking the black Pom in her beady little Pom eyes. “You _can't_ be mean enough to name this poor thing Wilhelmina.”

“Really!” the tiefling says, laughing. His eyes have turned up at the corners and he has the prettiest cheekbones, and Taako is swooning at least a little bit. “My mom named her the first time I brought her over. I’d been calling her Tourmaline.”

This time, Taako laughs. It's his flirting laugh, tinkling and practiced, designed to give the best possible impression. “You're right,” he says, looking slowly back and forth from the dog to the owner. “Tourmaline is a much worse name for her.”

“Didn't you say you were busy?” the man snarks, smiling despite his tone, “or did your plans always involve roasting my dogs names?”

“You gotta tell me the other dog’s names before I can dunk on them too, hombre,” Taako says, grinning. Slowly, he stands up and makes a bit of a show of brushing off his skirt, especially focusing on the fabric on his hips and ass. Best foot forward, after all. “Still though, you’re right. Places to go, people to see.”

“I suppose I'll see you at work, then?” the man asks, moving to stand up as well. His three dogs return to crowding around his ankles as he gets to his feet. Taako feels a stab of panic, like he's about to miss some obvious kind of plot point. “Or, um. Hang on one second.”

The tiefling shifts his dog leashes to a single wrist and digs in his pockets, eventually coming up with a pen and a piece of paper that he hastily scribbles something on. He folds it in half and hands it to Taako like he's passing a note in Junior High.

“Are these your digits, Mister Reaper?” Taako asks. He’s so glad he sounds confident, because his traitor heart is beating a mile a minute.

“Oh, please,” the man quips. Taako notes with glee that he looks maybe more than a little flustered even through his easy body language. “Mr. Reaper is my father. Kravitz is fine.”

“Well then,” Taako hums, noticing the crowd pouring out of Santo Corelón in the corner of his eye, “Maybe I'll see you a bit sooner than just at work, _Kravitz_.” And with a final wink and a twiddle of his fingers, he disengages, half skipping across the street to the front of the church.

“Over here mi hijo!” yells an old but still strong voice. Taako weaves around milling elves dressed in their Sunday best to get to the voice and the accompanying flailing arm waving just above the top of the crowd.

He throws his arms around his tía Tilla the second there aren't any more people between the two of them. He breathes in the corn oil and cigarette smoke that still sticks to her hair even though she hasn't smoked in years and is deeply, shockingly grateful for the final member left of his childhood family besides his sister. She smells like the desert, fresh tortillas, and home.

“La virgen siempre está te mirando,” Taako hears someone whisper. He turns his head to the side, arms still wrapped around his tía, and sees old Lada eyeing the two of them with what he now recognizes is the ugliest disdain. Every so often her eyes flick across the street to where, surprisingly, he can see The Reaper -- _Kravitz_ \-- still lingering, although he's kneeled down to play with his dogs a bit. Taako rolls his eyes almost violently at her theatrics, ghosting his hand over his aunt's fingers, wrist, and forearm before stopping at her elbow.

“Come on, Tía,” he says, winking at her and grinning, “Let's go find Lup.”

 

* * *

 

Taako and Lup are in a thrift store looking for scarves and skirts and awful bits of fabric when he finds _it_. He's across the store from where he's supposed to be looking but the ugly thrift tchotchke section was calling his name, beckoning to him like an old witch in a fairy tale.

It's a veladora, an awful, dollar store one that's been sitting in someone’s closet for an undefinable amount of time. It’s been burned about halfway down into the glass, the prayer is still stuck to the back, and the front sticker is a weathered, fading depiction of La Virgen de Guadalupe. What makes it special, what makes it the _greatest thing he has ever seen_ , is the border of medium to large googly eyes that someone hot-glued around the image of La Virgen.

He needs to go find his sister right now.

Taako almost misses her on his first lap through the store, he's so excited. His grip on the candle is so tight that he's worried he may have popped an eye off of it, but honestly it's such an easy fix, and incredible, _how has he never thought of this before_. Lup is shoulder-deep in a pile of stuffed animals, tongue sticking out in concentration as she roots around for god-knows-what, it doesn’t matter, he has to show her --

“Lulu,” he says, his voice quavering. His shoulders are shaking with repressed laughter and the more he thinks about what he's holding the harder it is for him to hold it back. “Lulu, you have to see this.”

“Little busy, Koko,” she says, sticking her tongue out further and closing an eye. Whatever she's reaching for must be way in there.

Taako's next attempt to get Lup’s attention is busted when he takes another look at the veladora and his words break apart into high weeping guffaws and throaty cackles. Finally, he sees Lup pull her arm out of the stuffed animal mountain and turn to face him, likely at a loss and eager to see what's murdering her brother. He doesn't know what she expected to find, but it probably wasn't her twin brother holding a candle, laughing so hard he's sobbing.

“ _Lulu_ ,” Taako wheezes, tears running down his face. He can’t stop cackling long enough to form a proper thought. “Lulu _holy shit_.”

Lup looks at him like he’s trying to snorkel in a bathtub. “Koko, I. Are you okay?” she asks, reaching a hand towards his shoulder.

Before she can touch him he puts a hand on his sternum and starts doing deep breathing exercises, though they're interrupted by sporadic bursts of giggles. Finally, he holds the veladora out, arm shaking. She stares at it blankly for a second and before she can ask he chokes out, voice thick with tears and deep with strain, “ _La virgen siempre está te mirando_.”

Lup looks at the candle for another split-second before a grin cracks over her face and she bursts out laughing out as well. The two of them sink to the floor of the shop, back to back, sniffling and wheezing and howling with uncontrollable, gleeful laughter.

“We’re never getting rid of this,” Lup says once she’s calmed down enough to speak. Taako nods, throat convulsing with every heaving breath. He might puke. It’s beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> The Mexican half of my family isn't actually Catholic so I hope I didn't bork anything up! I want to get more into Taako's curandero training sometime, too, and his and Lup's relationships with Tía Tilla.
> 
> This Literal Entire AU was started by [this tumblr post](http://flovvright.tumblr.com/post/156730992024/mothgeist-modern-au-kravitz-has-a-pet-pomeranian) that I'm sure everyone's seen. As you might be able to tell, it's really spun out of hand. Krav's other dogs are named Spot and Sugar Q. Taako's ferret, who didn't manage to make an appearance in this, is named Peepum.


End file.
